Roger Waters - The Wall - Live!

Stay tuned for further updates, but it looks like Roger is coming to Vegas on November 26th! Already planning my sick day! It would be too risky asking for the day off since its the day after Thanksgiving. If I'm denied, it would cost me "double points" to call in sick.

Two Ohio dates as well, with the first one being tantalizingly close to my trip home for the Ohio State road trip to Illinois! For a big Pink Floyd fan, this is pretty much as big as it gets!

More information TBA!

What to do on a day off?

Here's how the scheduling at work goes. My work-week starts on Friday and ends on Thursday. A couple days into each week (meaning Saturday), the new schedule for the following week is posted. Therefore, last Saturday I received the schedule for the week starting on Friday the 9th (which is today I guess, but since I haven't gone to bed yet it's still my Thursday night).

Well, I just finished up another 6-day work week and I already know this upcoming week will be 6 days! Here's the thing, Friday (today) is my ONE day off of the work-week. So after my day off, I know I'll be working 6 days in a row ending Thursday, and I have yet to get my schedule for next week yet. Let's say, by some horrific set of circumstances, that I will be scheduled for 6 days next week. Let's also say, by some even more HORRIFIC set of circumstances, those 6 days are the first 6 days of the week (Friday-Wed.) That would mean that it is actually possible that Friday the 9th would be my last day off until Thursday, April 22nd! Pray to the casino gods that it isn't so!

Okay, let's do some deep breathing exercises for a minute. First off, I HAVE to keep reminding myself that this is a good problem to have. The unemployment rate in Clark County is still well above 10%, and here I am complaining about working too much! Second, the chances of that scenario actually playing out are pretty slim. All of these 6-day weeks lately have actually been a 5-day scheduled work-week with one day added on by my shift boss after asking my permission first. The other big plus to these extra days have been that almost all of them were on the dice table, so its not like I've been given up days off to toil on War or Let-It-Ride all shift long.

However, the fact still remains that the above scenario IS technically possible. About 2 weeks ago a little form was made available to all dealers that if you turned in, would recognize you as someone willing to work 6-day weeks. In other words, your actual typed out schedule would have 6 working days. Obviously, I would be insane to fill out such a form. The way its been working is that I'm getting six days by my own decision, not tied-in with the official schedule. I also think that form was meant mainly for swing shift, which sees the heaviest action of the three shifts.

Let's assume the above nightmare scenario does play out though. I have a day off later today after waking up......what to do? It's fun to think about in theory, but I can already tell you it won't be anything spectacular. I've developed a hell of a cough the last couple of days and I've also developed a very nagging discomfort/pain in my right shoulder lately that seems to flair up mainly when I'm dealing to chain-smoking drunk-ass douchebags. This pain almost ALWAYS goes away on days off or when I'm having a good day at work. So yes, you heard me, I officially have an allergy to chain-smoking drunk-ass douchebags that manifests itself acutely in my damn right shoulder! My point is that with some physical maladies afoot, I will be sleeping in as long as I can stand it in the morning, which might mean until well after 12noon.

The second thing on my to-do list for my day off is S-U-S-H-I. I cannot wait until Danielle and I go out to dinner tomorrow night to our favorite sushi restaurant down the street! It's been forever since I've been able to cook Danielle dinner, which was the original plan for tomorrow night. But with my one day off of the week (and maybe for 12 f*****g days), I would like to be the one being served, not the other way around.

This posting actually took a crazy turn since I started writing. My original idea was to list all of the normal things I like doing on my days off in Vegas, maybe writing some reviews of my favorite eateries, provide links to my favorite spots, etc. Oh well, I guess I can just list them quickly and perhaps revisit them at a later date (April 22nd for example).

Stuff to do on a day off in Vegas (other than laundry and grocery shopping):
-New York Pizza and Pasta
-Amore's Taste of Chicago Pizza
-The Sushi Factory East - Henderson
-Tropicana $1.50 movie theater
-Pinball Museum and Hall of Fame
-Full pay 5cent Video Poker at Arizona Charlies (haven't done that in a while)
-One-night vacation downtown Fremont Street (seems like a twice a year thing)
-Hiking

Hiking is a great way to spend a day off. Unfortunately, its almost impossible to spend ONE day off hiking. With only one day off a week, I still have to make sure the normal stuff gets done like laundry, bills, shopping, etc. So an all-day activity like hiking seems out of the question right now. Plus, hiking is best saved for those weeks when I have two days off in a row, since I can hike the first day and recover the second. Two days off in a row seems like a completely crazy concept right now! I really do need to get at least a couple hikes under my belt before Zion in May though, since the hikes we plan on taking up there will probably kick my sorry ass.

Okay, this has been a pretty long post. I guess it better be though, there's a chance I might not check back in for TWO WEEKS! Wish me luck!

Edited to add: Just got my schedule on Saturday and I am working the first five days next week. Next day off is 10 days from now. Ugh.

Party is officially over!

Remember two posts ago when I claimed to bring home the largest paycheck in my life. I still believe that's true (just got deposited last Thursday). Unfortunately, the party's over. I AM working another 6-day week this week, but that's only because one of the main dice dealers at work got suspended last week and they needed me to fill in some extra dice shifts. That part about tips being over $100 every day sure was great, but we EARNED EVERY PENNY, and now burn-out has set in. This past week we've only seen tips in the $70 range, even though the place is still almost as busy as in week's past. Last Friday was only $78, one of the worst Friday's I've ever seen at my current joint, and with tax time rolling in, it may get even worse!

So at this point I'm just counting the days until my 4-day weekend with Danielle (starting a mind boggling 6 weeks from now on May 21st) and our long weekend trip to Zion. Until then, I guess I just need to motivate myself to make the donuts every day!

Floyd meets Tap

I ran into this amazing gem on youtube today and had to share! From what I can gather, its a performance of Spinal Tap from the early '90s. I think there's a total of THREE bass players in the band, and if you look closely, David Gilmour is one of them!!! In fact, he actually has a bass solo at 1:50!!